


Spark Ignited

by svevijah



Series: Future Starts Slow. [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Post-Endgame, clint barton is tired, there's a surprise character, tiny spider kids bond over graffitis and loss of lovely aunt and uncle with shady pasts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 04:59:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18771688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/svevijah/pseuds/svevijah
Summary: Aunt Nat once told her that revolutions, whether big or small, always started with one person doing something brave or impressing that would ignite the spark in another person’s heart as well. And with that memory in her mind, she went to the nearest art shop and bought everything she needed to make sure that spark would ignite.





	Spark Ignited

**Author's Note:**

> Lila Barton is a Brooklyn girl who hasn't spend enough time in her hometown! There are several people who i'd like for the mcu to introduce and one of these is Miles. He was already mentioned in Homecoming, so yeah, we know he exists. I headcanon that in hoco he was around 9/10 and survived the snap, being around 14/15 in 2024. The events of Spiderverse haven't happened yet because apparently the multiverse will be explored after FFH, making it "impossible" to happen before, but i've worked a little to fit them anyways because i'm just like that.

Back on the plane, and then again in the car, her dad had told her countless times that once in Brooklyn, it would have felt like a homecoming. When they arrived at their old house in Bed-Stuy, both dressed in black and looking like they had had better days, Lila took her sunglasses off, stared that wisteria coloured wall for a while and felt nothing. However, she kept it for herself.

“Do you remember it?” Clint asked curiously.

“I thought you and mom sold the house when we moved.”

Clint’s head tilted down as he straightened his leather jacket. For a second, he seemed nostalgic of something that Lila couldn’t quite figure out. “So many things happened in this house, you know… we couldn’t bring ourselves to sell it.”

Lila nodded, letting out a sigh right after. As far as she knew, this was the house her parents managed to buy after her dad was recruited for S.H.I.E.L.D., where he brought aunt Nat the first time when she was just a target to take down and he wanted to give her a second chance at life; where Cooper had spent two years of his life and where she had spent a couple of months before moving to the farmhouse. It seemed ages ago.

“So… how does it work now?” Lila began uncertainly. “I mean, are we going to live here and mom and the others in Waverly?”

Clint stayed silent for a while, gaze lost in the empty space before him. “Dad?” Lila called out softly, her hand lightly shaking his shoulder. Clint sighed heavily, then turned to face his daughter. “We haven’t figured it out yet but uhm… Cooper’s leaving for college and Nate’s gonna start elementary school soon…” he trailed off, his voice lowering as his mind tried to untie the mess that it was creating in his head. Lila pretended not to notice the way he seemed more lost than ever.

“You know there’s no need to move everybody, right?”

“Why so?”

“I have a room at school, dad.” Lila said dryly, her arms falling loudly at her sides once she realised that none of what she had said to her dad during the days prior to their travel was assimilated. “Dad, I get it, really… but I don’t know what to do, and it’s not like we can live here and pretend everything’s okay.”

Clint raised a brow in confusion, his bag held tight in one hand as if it was the only thing giving him support. “I’m sorry Lila, I’m trying to adj–“

“Adjust.” Lila interrupted. “Yeah, I know that. It’s been a year dad, I was there as well… but we’ve got to move on somehow. She wouldn’t like us looking this pathetic.”

Clint couldn’t bring himself to say something that didn’t sound utterly stupid after his daughter’s remark. He knew she was right, that Natasha would hate to see him like that, but he really couldn’t help but feel half confused by this new world, half lost, half dead too. So, he just stood there, between the dusted sheets that covered the sofa and the coffee table, unable to say a word or move for what it mattered.

Before he could even get out from that trance, Lila was already out the house with the excuse she wanted to look around and would have come home before sundown.

____________________

In a certain way, all those Iron Man murals would make Lila quite uncomfortable. _Tony_ was the person who used to gave her and her siblings Christmas gifts once he found out about them, who would help dad with his renovations and talk about how one day he would have done the same with his own farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. He wrote a recommendation letter for Cooper to send to Dr. Foster for his summer internship and answered all of her questions on biomedical engineering when she found out her dad’s skin had been reconstructed by Dr. Cho’s machine.

And now, he was just a colourful painting on a brick wall, a celebrity who ultimately saved the world for some, family for others – a father, a husband, a sort of uncle. Tony Stark saved the world but so did Natasha Romanoff, yet the would didn’t seem to care that much as she or her dad, or her family did.

Aunt Nat once told her that revolutions, whether big or small, always started with one person doing something brave or impressing that would ignite the spark in another person’s heart as well. And with that memory in her mind, she went to the nearest art shop and bought everything she needed to make sure that spark would ignite.

____________________

Her knowledge of Brooklyn, Lila found out, was pretty much terrible. Nonetheless, she persisted, and wall after wall, she began drawing Black Widows’s symbols and quick sketches of Natasha’s face, leaving the more artistic ones for when it would have been darker out and nobody would notice her.

“You know, that’s my spot.” A voice called behind her once she began drawing on a wall in a quiet dead-end street. As she turned to face the person, ready to fight if necessary, Lila’s brows lined in a frown. A boy just a couple inches taller than her was standing in a uniform, backpack loosely hanging from his shoulder and a smug expression on his face.

“Can’t see your name.” Lila remarked quickly, and the boy let out a bright laugh and took a spray can from the side of his backpack. “You see that one up there?” he asked in a whisper. Lila nodded curtly. “I did that one six months ago, my uncle helped me.”

“He’s got time to waste like you?”

“Let’s just say he supported my life decisions more than other people in my family.”

Lila’s lips pursed tight as she heard his statement. Somehow, she could actually understand what the boy meant – aunt Nat always being supportive even on the questionable decisions, sometimes offering better options, whereas her dad would set up a dramatic scene including all the reasons she was not allowed to do that thing.

“Are you from here? I’ve never seen you, and you know, I know everybody here.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I’m like… a friendly neighbour or something.”

Lila let out a small sigh, not believing at any of the boy’s words. “I was born here but I used to live… somewhere else.”

“What brought you back here?” he asked, walking around her giving a quick look to her spray cans. Lila followed his movements with her gaze, finding the boy definitely odd.

“I’m going to study at Brooklyn Visions Academy. Monday’s gonna be my first day.” She explained, and the boy lightly jumped on his place. “That’s where I study, too!”

Lila wanted to make a remark about how it was quite obvious given the fact he was wearing the academy’s uniform, but eventually decided to keep it to herself – like the fact that a black and red mask was hanging from the pocket where he took the spray can.

“What are you drawing?” he asked getting closer and causing Lila to lift a brow at the lack of personal space. “She vaguely looks like Black Widow! It’s cool, very minimalist.”

“Yeah, she was a lot like that.” She whispered.

“You knew her?” he asked and Lila nodded, her gaze fixed on the wall. “She was awesome during the years of the Decimation. The MVP of the whole Avengers team!”

A small smile ghosted on Lila’s lips, of course aunt Nat would give the best of herself in a stressful situation and be the best leader. “I wish I was there to see that. Or not see that, considering it tore my family apart.”

The boy frowned a little, shoving his hands in the pockets of his trousers. “You were close?”

“She was my aunt.” Lila explained, trying hard not to break into tears before a complete stranger. “I never got to say goodbye to her… not even at her funeral.”

“Oh God.” The boy let out in a squeak. “You’re that girl from the news! Wait don’t tell me your name… Lila Barton! I’m Miles!”

Without even try to be as polite as her parents taught her, Lila just raised a hand towards him a waved in one quick gesture. “You know, my uncle is dead, too.”

The way Miles gave her that information almost made Lila’s jaw drop. She could see he was sad about it, then again, his voice seemed to imply it was something that would have happened eventually. “Was he young?”

“Yeah, he was thirty-five. My dad always said he was a hot head… guess he was right after all.”

Lila swallowed silently, unsure about what to say next. If six months ago he was around, then it must have been something still fresh and she certainly didn’t want to unnecessarily put salt on the wound. Then again, if the year without aunt Nat taught her something was that talking about it really made her feel well.

“What happened to him?”

“He befriended the wrong people, and was an acceptable loss for them as well.” Miles explained shrugging his shoulders. “He was a good man mostly, but he did some mistakes too. Those ultimately brought him to his dead. Do you know what happened to you aunt?”

“Dad said that they had a fight to decide which one would sacrifice to get a stone they needed to defeat Thanos. He jumped but she saved him and jumped instead.” She remarked in a monotone voice, although her eyes were getting teary. “She sacrificed herself so that dad could have come home to us… and because she was obsessed with clearing her name from past mistakes.”

“Do you miss her?”

“Everyday.” She let out in a shaky breath. “I tell dad to move on every day but then I’m alone and I can’t help but play the goodbye video she recorded for me, or read the notes she typed and left for me to acknowledge and assimilate and…” she trailed off, softly sniffling, her mind lost in thoughts. “Do you miss him?”

“Yeah, I do. He was my best friend and he cared about me like a second father.” Miles declared earnestly. “I wish he never got himself in troubles and could still help me with my art.”

“Hey Miles?” she asked and he tilted his head towards her attentively. “You wanna help me with a thing?”

Miles seemed to think about it for a couple of second, before finally nodding.

____________________

“Hey G, this is Lila Barton, she’ll be with us for the rest of the school year.” Miles declared nonchalantly sitting at the table in the cafeteria, his hand slowly gesturing between Lila behind him and his roommate Ganke.

“Barton like that one Barton?” he asked, excitement growing in his voice.

“Yeah, like that one G, don’t overwhelm her, she’s new to this whole people thing.” Miles began, one hand raised in the other while the other was pushing a spoon in his plate. Lila giggled lightly, signing for him to let it go.

“Woah – how does it feel like to have an Avenger for parent?” he asked curiously, and Lila gave him a small smile. “It’s cool, a bit annoying at times, but you know, there’s a best and worst to everything.”

“Do you know War Machine? I’d love to have his signature!”

“Yeah I know him, I could ask him to come and say if you’d like.” Lila offered uncertainly.

“Oh my God, yes that would be awesome!” Ganke screamed cheerfully, his hands moving frantically and causing his glass to drop on the table. As he quickly excused himself and began cleaning the mess on the table, a tall figure approached Lila and tapped on her shoulder. When Lila turned, a girl with bright blue eyes and shiny black hair smiled at her.

“I heard you’re Lila Barton?” she asked politely, and Lila gave her a court nod. The girl smiled widely, giving her small sheet. “That’s awesome! We’re going to be roommates!”

“So it seems..?” Lila remarked as she absent-mindedly read how the rooms were sorted. Quickly putting the sheet aside, Lila gestured for the girl to sit with them. “Would you like to sit with us uhm…”

“Katherine. Katherine Bishop.” The girl replied brightly. “But my friends call me Kate.”


End file.
